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From: mat@hou5d.UUCP (M Terribile)
Newsgroups: net.physics
Subject: Re: Warp 1 on the NJ Tpk - (nf)
Message-ID: <703@hou5d.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 16-Oct-83 23:36:19 EDT
Article-I.D.: hou5d.703
Posted: Sun Oct 16 23:36:19 1983
Date-Received: Thu, 20-Oct-83 03:09:57 EDT
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Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ
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I have a feeling that no person who has any understanding of relativityu,
either Special or General, would stoop to author an article to the
audience of this newsgroup.  (I don't claim to understand either, really)
So I am going to present my understanding of one of the simplest paradoxes
of relativity.  Once you have absorbed the initial ramifications of it,
perhaps we can begin to learn what this thing is all about.

	Consider a pair of devices.  They are identical, and each has
a light source on one end and an observer.  Extending in front of the
observer is a LONG rail with a series of mirrors.  The source produces
a pulse of illumination and the pulse is seen by the obserrver in each
of the mirrors one after the other.  This arrangement allows the observer
to measure the speed of light.

	The first of these devices, with the name DOPPL stencilled in large
letters on its side is standing in space in an inertial frame (no
acceleration, no gravity).  The second device, identical to the first
except for the name GANGER stencilled in huge letters across one side,
is hurtling so that it will pass alongside of device DOPPL, with their
booms parallel.

	The observer on DOPPL measures (somehow) the speed of GANGER to
be .98 * C and the observer on GANGER measures the speed (velocity if you
want to talk fancy) of DOPPL to be .98 * C

	As the two devices pass, the light source on DOPPL flashes and
BOTH observers, by noting the difference in delay times between
reflections 1&2, 2&3, 3&4, etc, measure the speed of light.  WHAT
IS THAT SPEED?

	BOTH MEASURE EXACTLY C .  PERIOD.

So that there is NO WAY you could latch onto a photon and get pulled along.
LIGHT ALWAYS TRAVELS (given a constant medium) AT THE SAME SPEED.  NO
MATTER HOW FAST YOU ARE GOING RELATIVE TO THE SOURCE OF THAT LIGHT.

And you can NEVER travel as fast as light relative to any observer.
In order for the speeds to work out, you have to perceive things SLOWER
at greater velocity.  Your clocks, including you, run slow.  If you could
reach light speed, everything would stop.  You and everything in your
from would be in suspended animation relative to the observer.
And if you examine this situation you see it is impossible.  It would,
so to speak, require division by zero in physical laws.

As usual, if anyone has reasonable credentials on the subject or has
rigourous analysis to back him,  I will stand aside or eat crow on
 this matter as appropriate.

					Mark Terribile
					hou5d!mat